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Nigerian based B2B e-Commerce platform for consumer goods in Africa, Tradedepot has raised a further $10 million in a pre-Series B equity round.
According to a statement from the company, the equity round was co-led by Partech, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), and MSA Capital.
This is a major addition to the $3 million raised in the Series A led by Partech in 2018.
The company said in the statement that the new investment will be used to continue its integration of the fragmented informal retail supply chain in Nigeria, and further expand into other African cities.
Tradedepot also plans to launch a suite of financial products and credit facilities, to support its retailers in improving efficiencies in their businesses in order to scale and grow.
In the statement, Onyekachi Izukanne, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of TradeDepot said, “We are excited to strengthen our team and welcome on board some incredible strategic investors and partners, as we double down on our mission to digitize and simplify retail distribution for the continent.”
Izukanne noted that in the trillion-dollar offline retail market in Africa, the company is set to capture a greater market share through its strategy of driving down costs for the retailers and smoothening their processes.
Many retailers lack sufficient funds and credit facilities to grow their businesses, and TradeDepot offers them a chance to leverage on its network, Izukanne added.
This has been the model of operation TradeDepot launched in 2016, and since then, it has built a network of over 40,000 micro retailers, making household supplies and store essentials more accessible and affordable for the informal retail network.
TradeDepot partners with major brands and distributors to make these products available for retailers to order via its mobile apps, (Android and Whatsapp), USSD or a toll-free number and have the goods delivered directly to their stores via the company’s fleet of vans and tricycles.
TradeDepot also provides a CRM and data management system that enables suppliers to plan and monitor their sales routes in real-time, as well as gain invaluable insights into trade and retail data.
Wale Ayeni, Head of Africa Venture Capital Investment at IFC notes that TradeDepot is helping to digitize a substantial underserved informal retail segment, which is the pillar of economic growth in Africa.
Hanh Nam Nguyen, Program Manager, speaking on behalf of IFC as implementing partner of We-Fi, stated that, “We-Fi financing will incentivize TradeDepot to build stronger women-led small and medium enterprises (SME) retailer and distributor networks, which will support them to become drivers of economic growth in their communities.”
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